Brownsville Community Justice Center

How It Works

The Brownsville Community Justice Center seeks to provide Brownsville residents—and young people in particular—with ample opportunity to step off the fast track that leads to incarceration, unemployment, and poverty.  While the Justice Center is still in development, it has already begun to offer programming in Brownsville:

Youth Court: The Brownsville Youth Court, launched in May 2011, trains young people from the community to hear actual cases involving their peers, such as assault, truancy, graffiti, and fare evasion. Instead of their cases being processed through the traditional justice system, young people who appear before the youth court must complete sanctions designed to restore the community for the harm caused by their actions and are linked to local services to help them avoid further contact with the justice system.  The Youth Court trains 60 young people a year and hears over 150 cases.  To date, the Youth Court has a 94% compliance rate.
 
Probation: The NYC Department of Probation has a team of six probation officers on-site in Brownsville as part of the Neighborhood Opportunity Network (NeON) initiative. By being in the community, probation officers can create links to local programs and services for probationers.  This includes an education and career-training program for high-risk young people run at the Justice Center. In collaboration with the Department of Probation and the Young Men’s Initiative, the Brownsville Community Justice Center is working with men and women between the ages of 16-24 who have been in contact with the criminal justice system in the last 12 months. The program offers case management and social services aimed at connecting young people to resources such as GED and college assistance, internships and professional training. Participants also have the opportunity to engage in visible community benefit projects designed to make Brownsville stronger and safer.

Fighting Gun Crime: The Justice Center is planning to launch a program in Brownsville that brings together law enforcement and key community players to communicate to those at risk of using a gun that violence is not acceptable.

Community Service: Supervised work crews comprised of low-level offenders from Brooklyn Criminal Court are repairing conditions of disorder in Brownsville. The community service projects include park clean-ups, graffiti removal and responding to other neighborhood eye-sores that are reported by community residents.

Juvenile Reentry Task Force: Funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, this task force will work with the Crossroads Juvenile Center (located in Brownsville) on improving discharge planning.  The idea is to offer case management and support to young people to facilitate a smooth re-entry into the community.

Safe Surrender: Safe Surrender is a project of the Brownsville Community Justice Center, New York State Court System, Kings County DA’s Office, Legal Aid, and local churches that helps local residents get outstanding warrants vacated. Safe Surrender resolves low-level cases with favorable consideration whenever possible. So far, the Justice Center has helped convene two Safe Surrender events.